


Erase Me

by FallOutFandoms



Series: MSA Hurt/Comfort One-Shots [2]
Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Accidental Self-Harm, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Arthur is sad, Guilt, Misunderstandings, Multi, Panic Attacks, Post-Canon, Post-Reconciliation, Vivi and Lewis help
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:02:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27583121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallOutFandoms/pseuds/FallOutFandoms
Summary: Arthur’s world was coming undone at the seams, tears rolling down his cheeks as he tried to hold himself together.He stared at his reflection as a dark grin stretched across the sickly green face.“Oh Arthur. You knew they’d get tired of you eventually.”
Relationships: Arthur/Lewis/Vivi (Mystery Skulls Animated)
Series: MSA Hurt/Comfort One-Shots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2008192
Comments: 5
Kudos: 116





	Erase Me

Arthur hummed softly as he tinkered with his artificial arm, adjusting the tightness on the elbow joint and testing the finger dexterity in a few places. Galahad was puttering around on the other side of Arthur’s desk as the young man worked, squeaking away as he watched his owner with curious eyes. Straightening himself up in his seat, Arthur set his screwdriver aside and grabbed his artificial arm instead, shifting it side to side gently and watching how it moved. Frowning slightly, he set the arm back down and tried to grab his screwdriver again, only for his hand to meet an empty desk. Looking over in confusion, Arthur blinked before smiling fondly when he saw Galahad rolling away with the screwdriver clutched in his tiny arms.

“Galaham, no, I still need that. Just a few more minutes, then I’ll give you something to tinker with, okay?” The young man offered as he carefully took the screwdriver from the hamster. Galahad gave a squeak of apparent indignation, but settled for continuing to watch his owner. 

“Thanks buddy.” Arthur replied before leaning back down over his robotic limb and getting back to work. Rethread some screws here, tighten some bolts there, loosen a joint, oil a servo, until the arm finally had the fluidity Arthur was looking to achieve. Satisfied, the blond moved his sleeve to expose the socket for his robotic arm. Taking a deep breath in preparation, Arthur quickly plugged the arm into place, shivering uncomfortably as the mechanisms sparked to life. It took a few moments for the discomfort to subside, but when it did, Arthur wiggled his artificial fingers and smiled. After the overhaul he just gave it, the prosthetic had nearly lifelike movements. The young man beamed with pride and slipped the black wristband onto his robotic arm, making sure it was lined up with his other wrist before standing up and petting Galahad with his real hand.

“It still feels gross, I’m not gonna lie, but it moves way better now, don’t you think?” Arthur asked as he showed off the robotic arm for Galahad. The hamster watched it move for a few seconds before squeaking happily. The blond man smiled more and nodded once.

“I think so too. I’m gonna go show it off to the other two, feel free to tinker with the leftovers. Just be careful.” Arthur warned before leaving the workspace and starting to wander through the house, trying to locate his partners. They weren’t in the living room _or_ the kitchen, but Vivi’s shoes were sitting near the doorway, so they were definitely still home. Letting out a quiet hum, Arthur made his way towards the last few rooms of the house. He perked up when he finally heard their voices drifting from the bedroom, smiling again as he walked up to closed door and reached out to open it.

“I just, don’t know how to bring it up with him.” Lewis’ voice murmured from the other side of the door. Arthur processed the words for a moment and furrowed his eyebrows, hand hovering inches from the doorknob.

Were they, talking about him? 

“Do you want to talk to him together? You know how Arthur is.” Vivi’s gentle voice offered, clearly trying to be supportive.

“I know, I just...it’s going to upset him.”

Arthur blinked once, hand recoiling from the knob like he was going to get burned. They _were_ talking about him, and by the sound of it, it wasn’t anything good. The young man took a small step forward, glancing down at his artificial arm for a moment before continuing to listen in on his partners.

“I _know_ it’ll upset him Lewis, but at least _one_ of us needs to talk to him. This can’t-... _we_ can’t keep going on like this.” 

Arthur went cold, and he staggered away from the door, golden eyes wide in shock and fear. _They can’t keep going on like this?_ Like _what_? The young man suddenly tasted blood in his mouth, but he ignored it in favor of taking off running towards his workspace. He burst into the small garage, barely managing to catch the door before it slammed itself. He carefully shut it with an intentionally silent click, letting out a shaky breath before walking over to the mirror on the wall and opening his mouth. He quickly spotted a deep bite wound on his tongue, sighing as he shut his mouth to swallow another mouthful of blood. 

Arthur continued to stare at himself in the mirror, a deep frown slowly pulling at his lips before they started to quiver. The blond immediately closed his eyes and wiped at them roughly with his regular arm, sniffling once before opening his eyes and looking at the mirror again-

He let out a sharp gasp as his eyes snapped open wide, staring in horror at his reflection.

His reflection that grinned back at him, sickly green overtaking one half of its body.

“Uh oh. They’ve finally grown tired of you.” Arthur’s reflection said amusedly, tilting its head.

“What- _no_ -“

“Honestly, I’m amazed you even lasted _this_ long. I mean, you’re so clingy and annoying and unnecessary-“

“ _Shut up_.” Arthur choked out, eyes brimming with tears again. His reflection raised its eyebrows in surprise at his defiance. 

“Shut up? Why? You _know_ I’m just telling the truth. Not my problem you’re too much of a bitch to accept it.”

“They-they _love_ me, I just, misheard something, or-“

“ _Misheard_? Oh no, I think you heard them quite well.” The reflection mocked, smirking before continuing to speak.

“ _We can’t keep going on like this_.” It repeated in Vivi’s voice. Arthur flinched and covered his ears, not wanting to hear her voice coming from that-that _thing_.

“ _You’re not real_. You’re just-you’re just my fucked up thoughts-“

“ _Hey_! Rude! _You’re_ one to talk, crying like a little bitch over being broken up with. Come _on_ Arthur, don’t kid yourself, you knew this day was coming from the moment they asked you out. You knew you were intervening, you _knew_ you were just getting in the way, and you knew they would get bored eventually.” The reflection pointed out, grinning as Arthur fell to his knees in sorrow. 

“Stop it...just, leave me alone, _please_ -“

“ _Face it_. You never deserved them anyway. You could _never_ be good enough for them. After all, they’re perfect together, aren’t they? Who the hell are you to get in the way of that? Stop being so fucking _selfish_.” 

Arthur curled in on himself, pressing his forehead to the floor of his workspace as he started to sob. It hurt, it hurt so _bad_ , but what truly hurt was knowing that it was right. The demon in his reflection was _right_. 

Arthur knew he was never good enough for Vivi _or_ Lewis, let alone _both_ of them. He was too scared, too cowardly, too _broken_. The crooked reflection smirked.

“ _Exactly_. Now you’re catching on...besides. It’s not like they could ever love the guy who **_killed Lewis_** , right?”

Arthur’s eyes snapped open, and with a shout of rage and agony, the blond got to his feet and slammed his fist into the mirror. His reflection shattered in front of his eyes, only an echo of maniacal laughter left ringing in his ears. The young man blinked a few times before his strength disappeared and he slumped against the wall, sliding to the floor as his body shook with sobs. He stayed there for what felt like ages, trembling and crying and trying to find some way to convince himself that Vivi and Lewis still loved him.

A knock sounded through the garage, and Arthur froze in shock, sitting up just in time to watch the door swing open.

“Arthur? You in here-what- _Arthur_!” Vivi cried out, running over to the young man and quickly kneeling in front of him. Her eyes were wide as she examined him, visibly flinching when she saw the state of his knuckles. 

“Arthur, oh jeez, what _happened_? Wait-scratch that, tell me later, we need to get that hand cleaned up.” 

With that, the bluenette carefully helped Arthur to his feet and marched him inside, making a beeline for the bathroom and sitting the man down on the edge of the tub. With silent determination, Vivi dug through the cabinets and drawers and gathered an armful of supplies before kneeling in front of the young man and carefully pulling his injured hand towards herself. Wincing slightly as she absorbed the full extent of the damage, the concerned young woman grabbed the tweezers and cleaned them with a splash of rubbing alcohol before looking up into Arthur’s eyes.

“This might hurt a bit. I need to get the glass out.” Vivi explained gently, waiting for Arthur to nod in understanding before she set to work removing the shards of mirror embedded in Arthur’s knuckles. He let out a quiet grunt of pain when she first started, but otherwise he was still and relatively unresponsive. It took a good fifteen minutes before Vivi sat back a bit and set the tweezers on the edge of the sink. 

“Okay, I think I got everything. Gonna clean the wounds out now, and we both know that stings like a bitch.” The bluenette murmured, grabbing the bottle of rubbing alcohol again and pouring a bit out onto an already dampened cloth. She allowed Arthur to take a deep breath in preparation before she delicately started cleaning the injuries, making quick work of it for Arthur’s sake and tossing the used cloth into the sink when she was finished. 

“Alrighty, last step now. This is the easy part.” Vivi assured softly, trying to give Arthur a comforting smile. The young man glanced at her before resetting his gaze on the wall, clearly upset. 

Vivi looked him over worriedly before sighing softly and grabbing the roll of bandages she had grabbed earlier. She carefully wrapped Arthur’s wounds with the bandages, making sure each one was fully covered and protected. When she was finished wrapping the injuries, she tore the bandage away from the full roll and tied it off with a small but neat bow on the top of Arthur’s hand. She sat back and smiled proudly at her work for a moment before refocusing in Arthur’s face.

“All done. Now, can you tell me-...y’know what, no, we can just address this all at once.” Vivi said quietly, tone of voice unusually serious as she frowned. 

“Arthur, we need to talk.”

Arthur froze, looking down at her with wide eyes. The young woman was taken aback by just how _scared_ he looked. Blinking once before furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, Vivi reached out and tried to grab Arthur’s artificial hand. The young man immediately pulled away, glancing down at the robotic limb before meeting Vivi’s confused gaze.

Tears started rolling down his face as Arthur choked on a sob.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, _please_ , Vivi, I didn’t mean it-“

The young woman nearly panicked at the sudden change of atmosphere, staring at her boyfriend in shock. 

“Arthur, it’s-it’s okay! I’m sure there’s an explanation for what happened-“

Arthur cut her off with a desperate shake of his head.

“ _No_ , no, not this, I’m sorry for-for _whatever_ I did, w-whatever it was that upset y-you and L-Lewis, I-I’m _sorry_ , I’ll be b-better, I’ll t-try harder, _please_ just don’t-“

“Arthur, I don’t understand-“

“-don’t _leave me_.” 

Vivi’s eyes widened as a feeling of dread crept up her spine, watching in stunned silence as Arthur devolved into a pitiful mixture of sobbing and begging. The young woman blinked a few times, shaking her head a bit to snap out of her shock before she reached out and carefully grabbed Arthur’s shoulders. The blond tensed up, slowly lifting his gaze to meet hers. Where Arthur’s golden eyes were filled with sorrow, Vivi’s showed nothing but love and understanding. 

“Artie, I think-I think some really bad communication has happened here. Lewis and I need to talk to you, but it’s not-we would _never_ just leave you, Arthur. We _love_ you. If you come to the living room with me, we can all get everything off our chests, and you can explain whatever happened in the garage. Whenever you’re ready, okay?” 

“...okay.”

Vivi smiled comfortingly and wrapped her arms loosely around Arthur, giving him a gentle hug without constricting him. She kissed his forehead softly before pulling away and standing, turning towards the door.

“I’ll go get Lewis. Take as much time as you need, we’ll be in the living room.” Vivi assured the young man before disappearing through the doorway, closing the door silently behind herself. Arthur sat staring at the door for a few moments before he let out a shaky breath and rubbed at his eyes, clearing away the lingering tears. 

He sat in silent preparation for a few minutes, taking his time calming down and absorbing everything that had happened. He looked down at his bandaged knuckles, frowning a bit at the fact that he’d hurt himself, then smiling slightly at the cute little bow Vivi had topped the wrapping off with. She and Lewis still loved him. No matter how much he thought he didn’t deserve it, they loved him. 

But then, what were they wanting to talk about?

Well, there was only one way to find out. Arthur took a deep breath before carefully standing up, shaking out his anxious limbs before glancing at himself in the mirror. His hair was slightly messy, eyes red-rimmed from his crying. He looked-

“Like _shit_ , how can you _possibly_ think you’re good enough for Lewis and Vivi looking like-“

“Go fuck yourself.” Arthur said calmly to his reflection, the green-tinted version of himself gaping in shock. Without waiting for a reply, the blond marched out of the bathroom, heading straight for the living room before his nerves gave out. 

Vivi and Lewis were waiting for him, as promised, the two of them sitting quietly on the couch. Lewis noticed his arrival first, his bright purple eyes widening slightly before he put on a small, reassuring smile.

“Hey, Arthur.” The wraith greeted softly. Vivi perked up at the words, looking around the room before giving Arthur a smile of her own.

“There you are. Sit down wherever you’re comfortable.” She offered, subtly gesturing towards the two chairs positioned opposite the couch. Arthur glanced at the seats before walking over and sitting himself in the middle of the couch, right between the other two. Vivi was clearly surprised, but seemed relieved at his decision. Lewis simply shifted himself over to give everyone ample space on the limited number of cushions. 

Arthur settled back against the plushness of the couch, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before straightening himself up and glancing between the other two.

“Um. Well...Vivi, I-“

“You don’t have to explain anything yet if you’re not ready, Arthur.” Vivi assured quickly, but the blond simply shook his head.

“No, no, I..I’m okay. Well, not _okay_ okay, but y’know, okay to _talk_. Right now. If, that’s alright-“

“Whatever you’re comfortable with.” Lewis confirmed softly. Arthur looked up at him and smiled faintly before looking down at his hands, focusing on the metal one laying in his lap. He closed his eyes for a moment before starting to speak.

“I-...I, overheard, the two of you talking. In the bedroom. And, I kinda...I freaked out. Really bad. I, saw and heard some shit, and that freaked me out even more, and I punched the mirror to try and make it stop. And, that’s when you showed up, Viv.” Arthur said quietly, upset and embarrassed and overall just _not_ having a good time. Lewis and Vivi looked at each other in concern before refocusing on their boyfriend.

“If it’s not too much, can I ask what it was that you were seeing?” Vivi questioned gently.

“...um...m-myself...but, when I was, possessed...f-from the cave...”

Lewis went still beside him, and Arthur flinched, closing his eyes tightly and ducking his head down.

“I-I’m sorry-“

“Arthur, no, I’m not upset with _you_ , I was just. Caught off guard. _I’m_ sorry you went through that.” Lewis murmured, placing a hand lightly at the small of Arthur’s back to comfort him. The blond relaxed into the touch instantly, glancing up at Lewis with tearful eyes. The wraith just smiled slightly before looking over at Vivi. The bluenette nodded once and leaned a bit closer to Arthur.

“Artie, I think I get it now. You must’ve misunderstood what Lewis and I were talking about.” 

Arthur turned his attention towards Vivi, eyes still teary but yearning for answers. Vivi offered him a tiny smile and reached out, taking his hand into hers.

“Arthur, Lewis and I...we think you should talk to someone. Professionally.” 

The blond man blinked once, eyes narrowing in confusion. 

“Wait... _that’s_ , what you were talking about? But-...why? And, why did you think that would upset me?” Arthur asked quietly. Lewis and Vivi both immediately gave him a _look_. 

“Arthur, we love you, but you grumble whenever we ask you to take your meds on time or to sleep at a reasonable hour. You don’t exactly have the best track record of taking care of yourself.” Lewis explained, Vivi nodding along in agreement. Arthur blinked again before glancing away from them sheepishly.

“Okay...fair...but still. Was that, really it? You just, want me to talk to someone?” He asked, doubt still lingering in his chest.

“That was it.” The wraith confirmed. 

“Lewis is still adjusting to, y’know, being a ghost, and we all know I’m not exactly the most attentive person. We just, want to make sure you’re okay, Artie. You went through so much, and we can’t help you with everything. We love you, and we want what’s best for you, even if you need to get it from someone else. Just, think about it, okay?” Vivi said with a soft, serious tone of voice. Arthur looked at her for a long moment before humming quietly.

“...okay...so, you _promise_ you weren’t planning to break up with me?” 

Lewis let out a small laugh, pulling Arthur into a loose hug and resting his chin on the top of the blond’s head. 

“We promise we weren’t planning anything like that. We could _never_ do that, we love you too much.” The wraith assured. Vivi smiled and moved forward, hugging Arthur from the other side and resting her head on his shoulder.

“Plus we _suck_ at mechanics, so we need you around for when the van has problems.” Vivi teased fondly, getting a quiet laugh out of Arthur.

The blond man smiled happily, swaddled in warmth on both sides from the two people he loved most. He loved them, and they loved him. Arthur knew he had a lot of problems, and he knew he probably needed help with working them all out, but right now? Right now, he just wanted to cuddle with his favorite people and forget about the world for a while.

“Oh, Arthur, you upgraded your arm!”

“Wait, really? Let me see!”

Arthur smiled more and held up his robotic arm to show off. Everything was going to be alright. He was in good hands.

**Author's Note:**

> And there was my SECOND MSA fic because I’m still hyperfixating and need this shit in my life right now. I’m a week from the end of my college semester and this is how I’m coping. 
> 
> Thanks for reading everyone! I hope you all enjoyed. Comments or suggestions always appreciated!
> 
> (PS. Thank you so much to everyone who left love on my previous fic; I’m absolutely stunned at how popular it got! So thanks! I’ll definitely be writing more for this series, so keep an eye out! Have an idea? Drop it below!)


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